Ice makers generally produce ice for the use of consumers, such as in drinks being consumed, for cooling foods or drinks to be consumed and/or for other various purposes. Certain refrigerator appliances include ice makers for producing ice. The ice maker can be positioned within the appliance's freezer chamber and direct ice into an ice bucket where it can be stored within the freezer chamber. Such refrigerator appliances can also include a dispensing system for assisting a user with accessing ice produced by the refrigerator appliance's ice maker. However, the incorporation of ice makers into refrigerator appliances can have drawbacks, such as limits on the amount of ice that can be produced and the reliance on the refrigeration system of the refrigerator appliance to form the ice.
Recently, stand-alone ice makers have been developed. These ice makers are separate from refrigerator appliances and provide independent ice supplies. Generally, ice is provided into an interior volume. However, many stand-alone ice makers do not include an interior volume that is visible without opening the ice maker. Condensation and/or insulation may create difficulties in determining how much ice is contemporaneously available within the interior volume. Moreover, removing ice from the interior volume of many existing systems may be difficult. The area defining the interior volume may be provided as a removable bucket. Such systems may become increasingly heavy and/or difficult to remove if, for instance, a large amount of ice is held therein. If any ice within the interior volume has melted, it may be further difficult to remove the liquefied ice or water.
Accordingly, improved stand-alone ice makers are desired in the art. In particular, cost-effective stand-alone ice makers that address several of the above issues would be advantageous.